Saturday, August 30, 2014

Froggatt Edge is a very popular gritstone escarpment for rock climbing situated in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England. Gritstone is hard, coarse-grained sandstone used for building materials. Froggatt Edge was a source of millstones and a number of half-completed stones can be found at the bottom of the slopes. The escarpment is the northernmost of the three main ridges in the area, Curbar and Baslow Edges being a mile or so to the south. The heather moorland, a purple haze in summer, is managed by burning.

a millstone round the climber’s neck no place to fall

from disorder the phoenix rises

the bleak tor God’s own rock

Curbar Edge

A mile or so to the south of Froggatt Edge is the equally impressive Curbar Edge which allows spectacular views across the Derwent Valley. The following haiku were mostly conceived on a ginko walk on 7th June 2014 accompanied by fellow poet Judy Kendall. A storm had just passed through and we stood on the precipice of the escarpment in mist and low cloud. The clouds then cleared opening up magnificent views. We watched as the storm clouds made a hurried retreat across the open moorland.

on the edge a stone tumbles into the abyss

gritstone heather thriving against all odds

chameleon sky a marriage of joy and despair

Baslow Edge

The escarpment of Baslow Edge is the last significant exposure of gritstone to the south of Curbar Edge from which it is separated by Curbar Gap. Baslow Edge has two impressive landmarks: the Eagle Stone (also known as the Witches’ Stone) and Wellington’s Monument. It is said in local custom that men had to climb the Eagle Stone to prove their worth before they could be eligible to marry!

a man stands atop the witches’ stone soon shackled

white dog wallowing in cotton-grass happiness again

I sit on the mossy hummock with just my thoughts

Gardom’s Edge

To the south-east of Baslow Edge is Gardom’s Edge. The escarpment has the most well-known archaeological feature in the area, this being a cup-and-ring marked stone (also known as a petroglyph) from the prehistoric era. The uniquely carved stone was discovered in the 1940s and has been buried under a replica to protect it from weathering and damage. The other significant landmark of the Edge is the seasonal sundial stone. In 2012, Daniel Brown et al. postulated that the standing stone could be a gnomon of a seasonal sundial (indicating the change of season as through the winter the north facing side is in permanent shadow) possibly from the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age period (2500–1500 BC).

a depression of cup marks prehistoric echoes

down Gardom’s Edge green ribbons pour

sundial shadow the season shifts

Birchen Edge

Nelson’s Monument can be found on Birchen Edge, an iconic gritstone column with a ball on top. It was erected in 1810 by a local businessman to honour Lord Nelson. Three nearby boulders are carved with the names of Nelson’s ships: HMS Victory, Defiance and Royal Sovereign - spelled Soverin. Birchen Edge is renowned for easy climbs for the novice, two of the most notable being Orpheus Descent and Stoker’s Wall.

they wander in circles under the soft green moss,one hand holding a drink,the ice melts and dripsfrom the sides of their Venetianglass, the other hand holds a cigarette with blue tinged smoke,Savannah ghosts get a little thirsty,it's the humidity and their terriblememories, the buildings thatlight up at night like ancientshipwrecks, the skulls ofsea-captains, the jazzthat drifts out fromthe orange angry sky,Savannah ghosts walk in circles under thesoft green moss,it drips from their hair onto the soft, soft ground

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Gene McCormick is a writer who paints without preference for either
discipline. His art is in private and commercial collections and he has
illustrated a number of books. He is the illustrator for
Misfitmagazine.net.

Bio: Victor Henry’s
work has appeared in various small press magazines and e-zines.He
is a reference librarian, a Vietnam veteran, and a member of Veterans for Peace.
His work has recently appeared in Dead Snakes.

Prefering to "lean and loafe at [his] ease," Alan Britt
is troubled by the corruption and ambivalence that permeates the Great
Experiment, so politically speaking he has started the Commonsense
Party, which ironically to some sounds radical. He believes the US
should stop invading other countries to relieve them of their natural
resources including tin, copper, bananas, diamonds and oil, that it’s
time to eliminate corporate entitlements and reduce military spending in
order to properly educate its citizenry, thereby reducing crime and
strengthening the populace in the manner that Jefferson envisioned. He
is quite fond of animals both wild and domestic and supports prosecuting
animal abusers. As a member of PETA, he is disgusted by factory farming
and decorative fur.

Cristine A. Gruber has had work featured in numerous magazines, including: North
American Review, Writer’s Digest, Dead Snakes, The Endicott Review, The
Homestead Review, Iodine Poetry Journal, Miller’s Pond, The Penwood
Review, Poem, Thema, The Tule Review, and Westward Quarterly. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Lifeline, was released by Infinity Publishing and is available from Amazon.com.

I grew up to the
immediate north of one of the first economically ruined cities of the Upper
Peninsula of your home state (GM ,GM, GM), which once upon a time (ago) was an
integral part (because animals with furs still refuse to get passports) of two
countries that did not exist that became two cities that no longer speak
French, which turned out to be my childhood home (sans Grand Funk but avec
Phil Esposito) that subsequently died a different but equally sad (steel,
steel, steel) manufacturing death.

I do not buy the American
Dream (that as a child I was happy enough to have beamed illegally to the
our, first on the block, colour TV, over the wide cultural divide of the river)
and I gleefully admit to strongly disapproving (having sadly, aged) the
continually misguided (please provide me with a stronger adjective) sic
foreign policy that has been espoused by idiots (read: elected officials)
controlling your country and forced upon the world for the last century or so
(as the clock tics); but you, the person and not necessarily your views however
nasally presented, have ideas (thought from the other side of the river!) that,
sadly, or foolishly, or sagely get ignored by the ignorant but which I, minor
poet, enjoy.

If I had ten bucks (hey
they are at par now, na na na na boo boo) I would send it to you to save the
world (mine, please) or buy two bottles of beer or some vodka, ok, food, because
I (like half the world) haven't worked for half a decade (more cities forced to
collective skinned knees and into tight coffins in anticipation). But money
slips (coins, through the spaces and the naturally occurring cracks) out of my
fingers as easily as election promises (soothing untruths) slip out of
politician's (or their handler's) minds (how oxymoronic, as morons go) but,
but, I do offer (first rights refusal: read payment) this poem. And poems are
only worth what they are printed upon and this one is printed upon the internet
ether (read: nothing).